Phenomenon
by The Cinderninja
Summary: Station Square is preparing to host it's fifth annual Extreme Gear Tournament, but when disaster strikes on the first day and people start going missing, it's up to a small group of heroes to band together and figure out what's going on. DISCONT.
1. Prologue

**Mossmask: Okay. Well, I think I'm ready to start a new story. Let's hope I'm right. It's an idea I've had in the works for about three years now, but only recently sat down and sorted out all my thoughts on it into a semi-functioning story. I'm excited to have it started, and I can't wait to see where I go with it. Hopefully, I'll see some people I already know from my last story, and hopefully I'll see some new readers as well. ^^**

**Let me know what you think, and as always, constructive criticism is always wanted. Can't improve if you don't tell me what's wrong.**

**A not on this story before I begin. It's set in an entirely AU universe. For the most part the characters are canon. There are a lot of people from various Sonic canons showing up in this.**

**Basically, the characters who'll be popping up throughout the story consist of:**  
><strong>Sonic, Tails, Knuckles Mighty, Ray, Sally, Bunnie, Jet, Wave, Storm, Amy, Sonia, Cream, Manic, Rouge, Shadow, Maria, and the glitch characters Ashura and Bluetails.<strong>

**Honey, Mirror Honey, Silver and Blaze might also be showing up. If I can find a way to work them in. I'm hoping I can.**

**A note. Sonia and Manic are brother and sister in this, but neither is related to Sonic. Sorry, for anyone who was hoping otherwise. It wouldn't have worked out that way.**

**I think that's it for now... (As for the Ashura and Bluetails... strangeness in the first chapter, Just ignore it. It's part of their characters, but it's not relevant to the story. They have a teleporting closet and magic paper. If anyone can tell why, you get a virtual cookie for being awesome. And a hug. But like I said, it's not actually important to the plot, so if it confuses you just don't worry about it.)**

**~Cya on the other side  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue<br>**  
>The thin beam of white light coming from the flashlight in Maria's right hand was the only thing visible in the inky blackness surrounding them. The air was musty and stale, and hard to breathe in. At the same time, it was cold. Cold enough for Maria to be shivering through her thick black pullover. The cold and the dark didn't seem to bother her companion at all though, as he led her through the darkness as easily as if it was in broad daylight.<p>

"Are you sure this is the right way, Shadow?" She asked, her quiet whisper sounding unreasonably loud as it broke though the still silence.

"Yes." Was the only reply she got. Followed, after a moment, by a quieter "trust me."

She gave a quick nod, not doubting he'd be able to see it somehow. "Hey," she spoke again, as the torchlight lit up a section of exposed wires hidden behind a rusted away panel in the concrete wall. "Think I can give us some decent lighting in here?" She asked.

There was a moment's hesitation before he agreed. "Alright, if you want to. But just for a minute."

Letting go of his arm, which she'd been holding on to up to this point as he guided her through the dark, Maria made her way across the cluttered concrete floor over to the panel and easily tore it off of the wall, its one remaining hinge nearly completely eaten away by rust. After a few minutes tinkering, Shadow standing close behind holding the light steady for her, a dull buzz started up.

A few seconds after that, a few lights slowly flickered into life.

Few of the lights actually worked still, and the ones that did were old and cast a pale yellow light over the room. It was still enough for Maria to relax for a moment. She had just wanted to get her bearings and be able to see where she was.

They were standing on an old subway platform. It was no longer in use, and closed off from the top. In fact, the entire section of subway they were in was sealed off from the outside. It was Shadow who had Chaos Controlled them both in in the first place. He insisted that there was something down here Maria needed to see.

So far, however, she had seen next to nothing in the utter darkness underground. Now, she was sitting with her back against the cold concrete wall underneath the panel she had previously been rummaging around in to turn the lights on. Her black and red hedgehog companion was standing further away on the platform, near the edge of the tracks. He had his arms crossed and was staring intently into the darkness down the tunnel.

Maria was about to say something when he turned around. "Turn the lights off."

"What, now?"

"Yes, _now._" He hissed. "Quickly. Kill the electricity."

She did so, standing up and disconnecting a few wires hanging loosely through the hole in the wall, then flicking off her own flashlight. She was thrown into complete darkness. By the time she had gotten to her feet Shadow was already standing next to her again, one arm in front of her to hold her back against the wall.

She tried to ask him what was going on, but no sooner had she opened her mouth then she found a gloved hand firmly on top of it. She took the hint, and gave a tiny nod. A few seconds later the hand was removed, but Maria stayed silent.

That was when she realized she could hear sounds coming from inside the tunnel, close to the platform - and getting closer. She leaned forward to try and hear more clearly, but Shadow's arm still held her back against firmly the wall. Straining, she could just barely make out quiet pops and clicks.

It was a few moments more before she dared to breath again. She hadn't even notcied that she was holding it. And she also, apparently, hadn't noticed that she was still standing in a dusty underground subway station because as soon as she took that first deep breath, she found herself choking on the stale air.

_"Shit."_

She thought she was about to collapse on her hands and knees, but was saved the trouble when she found herself shoved to the floor and bundled into a corner.

_"Chaos Spear!"_

Confused, she looked up, but she could hardly see through her streaming eyes. Fumbling around for her torch she instead found her hand grabbing something cold and scaly. She cried out, startled, and pulled her hand back. She felt a sharp pain down her leg before she was grabbed by the wrist and tugged backwards by Shadow.

She tried desperately to get some sense of what was going on, but it was hard to see anything between the intermittent flashes of green light flaring in the subway. Suddenly, the hand around her wrist let go and she was once more tossed to the side. She felt something brush against her quickly. She suspected it was whatever had knocked Shadow away.

The next flash of light gave her just enough time to see something about the size of a person get thrown against the far wall and fall to the tracks. There was quiet for a few seconds. She was breathing quickly, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating.

"...Shadow?"

She yelped as something touched her shoulder but calmed again when she realized it was just Shadow's hand, and blushed slightly. Hopefully even his eyes weren't good enough to notice that.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah... but Shadow! What _was _that?" She wondered.

"That was what I wanted to show you." He took his hand off of her and she heard the sound of scuffling as he moved back across the platform.

"Huh? That thing? You knew about it? But what is it?"

"I was hoping maybe you could help me find that out." He said, coming back to her side and flicking the flashlight he'd just retrieved back on. The circle of light fell directly on the body of the thing and Maria gave a sharp intake of breath as she saw it in the light for the first time.

It looked almost like a giant spider. It had eight legs, and a lot of eyes. She couldn't count exactly how many, but they seemed to glow red in the light. It would have been about chest height - to her - when standing on all eight legs, and the whole body of the thing was covered in what looked like black scales. It had fangs about a foot long. She made to move closer, but was pulled back by Shadow as a chorus of wailing and shrieking started up further down the opposite end of the tunnel, growing rapidly louder.

"And what are _those?"_ She snapped, startled.

"I have no idea." He muttered. "This was all I saw last time I was down here." He looked agitated. Maria knew he was probably just nervous.

"We should see if we can get one of those, too!" She exclaimed hopefully.

"No!" The ebon hedgehog snapped, "it's time to leave." He glanced back into the tunnel, where the shrieking was getting unbearably loud.

Maria went to take a step closer to the dead spider-thing, regardless of what her grouchy resident hedgehog said, when she felt him grab her roughly by the arm. She turned around just in time to see a... flock, she supposed, of something shining, with sharp fangs and long wings, before her flashlight was knocked out of her hand. And then-

_"Chaos-"_

* * *

><p><strong>Mossmask: Because the prologue is so short (only a thousand and some words), I'll be uploading the first chapter tonight as well. Enjoy? ^^<strong>

**Oh, and lemme know if you spot any spelling errors and such. I don't have any working spellchecker at the moment. I've reread the chapters myself two or three times each, but I can still miss stuff, so if you see anything wrong just point it out.  
><strong>

**~Dash Out_  
><em>**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

The City was busy. The city was always busy, but now especially. Station Square was hosting its fifth annual Extreme Gear tournament, so crowds of people had been coming in for the even for the past week or so. Today was the last day before the event officially began and the streets were overcrowded with pushy, rambunctious fans and participants. And people who just thought it would be cool to come out and see what all the fuss was about.

In other words, it was an extremely easy place to lose an energetic and easily distracted two-tailed fox cub. For one particular hedgehog, this was proving more of a problem then he would have originally expected to be possible.

"_Tails! _Get back here right _now!" _He snapped, making a grab for one of the overzealous kit's two tails as he took a running leap right into the back of a bright magenta hedgehog.

She turned around and looked down at the tangle of fox limbs on the ground, and then up at the blue hedgehog who'd just shoved his way through the crowd to reach them.

"I'm sorry-" he began to apologize, but she cut him off with a casual wave of her hand. He noticed both were filled with shopping bags.

"Hey, it's no problem, alright?" She grinned "I've got a kid here with me too. I know what they're like when they get excited." She winked at him and nodded over to a street vendor being crowded by an excited young - and equally pink - hedgehog. A young rabbit stood beside her, looking mildly embarrased.

"And for the record, I'm talking about the hedgehog." She nodded solemnly. "Cream's just an angel."

"Oh, yeah. Hey," Sonic began, taking in the fact that all three of them seemed to have their fair share of baggage. Clearly tourists. Or just shopaholics. Or possibly - probably - both. "Are you guys here for the Tournament?"

"Oh yeah," she said brightly, and Tails perked up. The little fox had just managed to make it to his feet and untangle his tails from under himself before sulking over to Sonic, but as soon as anyone mentioned the Tournament, they instantly caught the fox's attention.

"Hey, come on, let's talk out of the way of the crowd a bit." She added, grabbing Sonic's hand without waiting for conformation - he in turn latching onto Tails' wrist at the last second, and dragged him off to the side a bit so they could talk without being bumped into every five seconds by the mixed crowd of human and Mobian.

"So anyway, like I was saying. We're here for the Tournament - though, I think most of the people in the city right now are."

Sonic agreed. "We're here for the Tournament too. We decided to spend the whole summer in Station Square. Tails has been wanting to come for the past few years, so I decided to save up and take him as a sort of early/late birthday gift."

"Ah. I'm gonna be competing. They're my team." She added, nodding back to the hedgehog and rabbit girls, who were making their way back over through the crowd now. Tails' eyes went wide.

"You mean you guys all got 'Streme Gear?" He asked excitedly.

The hedgehog girl grinned. "Oh yeah, sure. You can stop by our hotel sometime and check it out if you'd like, bud." She crouched down as she added the last part, speaking directly to Tails.

If at all possible the kits eyes went even wider. "Really? You mean it?"

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it." She grinned at him, before straightening up and turning back to Sonic. "We're staying at the Rockstar Inn. Do ya know where that is?"

"Sure, we're staying not too far away from there, just a few blocks I think."

"Okay, cool. We're in room number four-sixteen. You can remember that, or should I write down?"

"I'll remember it fine." Sonic smirked.

"Cool." The hedgehog girl tossed her head back, brushing her long hair fromin front of her face. "I think a lot of other teams are staying there too, so maybe you'll get to meet some of them as well, if you're lucky. I could introduce you to the few I've already met."

"Sounds good."

"I'm Sonia, by the way." She held out her hand for Sonic, which he took in his own and

"Sonic."

* * *

><p>"Who was that you were talking to?" Amy asked curiously, trying to get a good look at the blue hedgehog before he was swallowed up completely by the crowd.<p>

"Just some guy. He had a little kid with him. They're here for the Tournament."

"Who isn't?" Amy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well. Said his name was Sonic. He might stop by the hotel sometime." Sonia said, wondering if her companion would mind.

"Tomorrow?"

"Not sure."

"Oh." Amy frowned. "Just wondering. 'Cause, you know, I think we're leaving fairly early. We need to get to the stadium a few hours before the first races start. To sign in and everything."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I just gave him our room number, that's all. No idea when he'll stop by."

Cream was listening to her older friends' conversation with mild curiosity. She was standing to the side while they chatted, with a box of chocolates in her hand. She would pop one into her mouth every now and then, and stare off into the crowd thoughtfully.

"Oh... I'm so nervous..." she muttered to herself quietly. "I hope I'll do alright... I don't want to disappoint Miss Amy and Miss Sonia..." she continued to worry quietly to herself, going mostly unnoticed by absolutely everyone. She was very good at not being noticed.

"Was he cute?" Amy asked, with a mischievous grin.

"What? Oh, I don't know." Sonia rolled her eyes.

"He _was, _wasn't he?" Amy's grin grew even wider. "Oh, you just went and invited a cute boy to our hotel room! Good job, Sonia." She congratulated her friend.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." The hedgehog tossed her hair back again, before reaching for Cream's hand. "Come on Cream, we're headed back to the hotel now."

They set all their bags down on the floor when they walked back into their hotel room. It was still mid-afternoon. Sonia pulled a cell-phone out from the pocket of her purple track pants once everyone's stuff was in a pile in the middle of the floor. Amy had sat down on the couch with the TV on, and Cream had gone to take a shower.

"Manic?" She asked into the phone. She walked off into the bedroom to continue her conversation. Amy looked up as Sonia reentered the room a few minutes later and muted the TV.

"He answer?"

"Yeah."

"Where is he?"

Sonia shrugged. "He says he and Rouge are 'checking out the city'. We spent hours out shopping this morning though, and I think they got up later then us. Besides, it's still midday, so I'm not that worried."

Amy nodded. "Yeah yeah."

"I just told him to check back every coupla hours or so. He's a bit annoyed, but whatever. He still said okay."

"When're they gonna come back?"

"I told him to make sure they're back by eight tonight. Until then, I don't really care."

Amy nodded. "Okay, cool. So, are we gonna go out again, or what?"

Sonia shrugged. "Maybe when Cream's ready. We've had a bit of a long morning already anyway, so I'm fine with anything."

Cream came back out a few minutes more after that, to find the two pink hedgehogs sitting on the couch and watching a movie on the hotel television. She decided to let them finish it before they did anything else, as she was tired from the morning shopping anyway, and wandered into the kitchen to make some tea.

After putting the kettle on, she grabbed one of the books she'd bought that day (Sonia and Amy had mostly gone for clothing and jewelery. She, on the other hand, had opted mostly for books, one dress, and a few trinkets. She also picked up a new bowtie she planned on giving to Cheese as a present when she got back home) and pulled a stool up over to the counter. It was a good 'nother hour before the girls were all ready to go back out again.

They caught a bright red double bus right at the corner, in front of the hotel. Sonia noticed a few of the people they passed on the lower level had Extreme Gear with them, and a few duffel bags. A red squirrel and a rabbit with a purple leotard and metallic limbs. Probably more new arrivals to the city. She made a note to try and see where they got off. She considered stopping to talk to them, but Cream was already running up to the second level, and holding her hand, Sonia followed.

* * *

><p>With a slow wheezing, grinding noise, a small door labelled 'Utility Closet' slowly appeared in the hotel hallway where there previously was none. A very drunk echidna, the only person around to see it happen, glanced down at the bottle in his hand, before grinning and walking off - most likely back to the bar.<p>

A few moments after that, a green and black hedgehog and a blue, two-tailed fox stepped cautiously out. Ashura and 8-BiT. They both wore chunky green, metal collars, and the hedgehog wore a bright orange sash reading 'The Hallmonitor'. The fox turned and closed the door behind himself.

"Where are we?" He wondered aloud.

"One way to find out, sook." Ashura grinned back, sauntering off down the hallway. The fox picked up his pace to walk alongside, glancing over his shoulder at the closet.

A few moments later found them standing at the front desk of a hotel, with a fairly crowded lobby. The receptionist, a tawny tabby cat, looked up from her book and leveled her gaze at them across the counter. She looked extremely bored.

"Sorry, but we're booked full. If you're looking for a free room, you'll hafta go somewhere else. I doubt you're going to have much luck this close to the Tournament, though."

"Tournament?" Ashura asked, leaning across the counter. "What sort of tournament?" He asked, curiously.

The cat raised her eyebrows and gave him a look that made it quite clear she thought he was wasting her time. Finally, when she realized that he was completely serious, and still waiting for an answer, she sighed and pointed to a sign on the front door, and went back to reading her book.

Ashura and Bluetails wandered over and looked at the sign curiously. It appeared to be some sort of poster advertizing an Extreme Gear tournament. Hedgehog and fox grinned.

"Sounds fun."

"It does."

"Think we should stay?"

"I think we should stay. D' you think we should stay?"

"Aye. Come on sook, let's have us a look around the place."

Following a quick nod, the two hurried outside and were quickly swept up by the flow of the crowd. "Oy, make sure you remember the way back to the hotel!" The hedgehog called.

"Yeah yeah, hurry up!" The fox called back, slipping easily through the crowd and running on ahead, grinning.

Sticking his thumbs under his sash and tugging on it self consciously, the hedgehog hurried up and fell back into step beside the fox.

"So, I was thinking, we go find out where this tournament is?"

"Already did." The fox answered, trying his best to hide his smirk.

"You did? Oy, when was that, then?" Ashura asked, indignant.

"When we were lookin' at the poster. It had an address, y'know."

"...Oh."

A few minutes later found them standing in front of a huge stadium. Ashura whistled as he stared up at the huge entrance doors, and the even huger walls surrounding them.

"...It's pretty huge." He said after a moment's deliberation. "So... wanna check it out?"

"But it's closed."

"Yeah. So... wanna check it out?"

"Sure thing." He replied cooly. The two exchanged a grin before quickly setting to work letting themselves inside the stadium, to take a better look around.

* * *

><p>On the opposite side of the stadium, a few hours later a certain squirrelarmadillo duo were doing the exact same thing. That is, letting themselves into the stadium a day early. They were going about doing it, however, in a very different manner.

That manner being, of course, to simply open the doors and walk in.

"...Er, Mighty, are ya sure we... shoulda, um, done that?" the small yellow fuzzthing asked.

"Eh? We? Done what? I didn't see you breaking down any doors."

The squirrel flattened his ears against his head. "Um, yeah, sorry." he shook his head suddenly. "But hey! H-hey! That's not what I was saying! What if we get in trouble for it? Or what if we get c-caught?" He was jittering so hard the armadillo actually had to reach over and grab his shoulders to keep him from falling over. It served to steady him only slightly.

"...Ray."

"Yes?" He squeaked, straightening his blue vest self-consciously.

"...Look at me."

He slowly turned and did so.

"Calm down. Seriously. Kiddo. We're not gonna get caught. Even if we do, what's the worse that could happen?"

"...We could get kicked out of the Tournament."

Surprisingly, the armadillo didn't seem phased. "Why, do you plan on telling them we were entered in it?"

"W...what?"

"Yeah. Sorry, but, they don't actually need to know that we're entered in it."

"...Oh."

"Yeah. So. Moving on?"

The squirrel nodded timidly. "Um, yeah, okay. Sorry." He coughed quietly, feeling very foolish. He couldn't help it though! They were breaking into a stadium in the middle of the night! How could that, in any way, be considered a good idea? Even though he'd settled down marginally, his eyes were still darting around the stadium, and he gripped the armadillo's hand in his own with all the strength he could muster. Evidently though, it wasn't that much. And the way his fur stood on end made his look like a giant yellow pom-pom.

In Mighty's opinion, it was extremely amusing to watch. A tad worrisome though. He really would have to work on that, eventually. He had no idea what made the squirrel so bloody timid.

So, when the squirrel suddenly let out a startled scream and clambered up his back in the space of three seconds, he wasn't all that surprised. He was surprised, however, at the almost-as-high-pitched yelp that came from the startled hedgehog who'd walked directly into him.

When Mighty turned around, the neon green hedgehog who'd screamed was straightening out a sash around himself and trying to hold a straight face. He was also pointing accusingly at the small blue fox by his side.

"It has him screaming." He said solemnly, while the fox fixed Mighty with a deadpan stare. They exchanged a knowing glance between the two.

Then the hedgehog peered over the armadillo's shoulder at the tiny ball of flying squirrel that had previously tumbled down into his arms. "Uh... right. Hello." He gave a tiny wave.

A small gloved hand emerged from the ball of yellow fur and gave a weak wave back. "Hello."

* * *

><p>As it turned out, Mighty and Ray were staying in the same hotel at Ashura and Bluetails (Bluetails had apparently actually taken the time to remember where they parked the Closet).<p>

They had hung out at the stadium a while longer after walking into each other. Ashura and Bluetails had already gone, gotten some lunch, and come back about an hour later. In all that time, they had pretty much finished exploring the entire stadium and a lot of the surrounding area. So, with that experience under their proverbial belts, they ended up showing Mighty and Ray around all the interesting parts and leaving out the rest.

They had all walked back to the hotel together later that night, and by that time it was already pretty late. So instead of going back to their hotel room and resting up the night before the Tournament began, as they obviously should have, they opted out for the more entertaining option.

That being, of course, to head straight to the hotel arcade. And Ashura had to admit, he was impressed when he saw it. The place was huge. And filled corner to corner with huge game machines, dance pads, motorcycle and car seats, virtual reality helmets, laser guns, and a whole line of car seats wall to wall, where apparently up to twelve people could race each other at once. He gave an impressed whistle.

"Whooa. Nice arcade." He peered at one of the game machines. They all appeared to have some sort of swipe screen on them. "Howsat work, then?" He wondered aloud.

"Hotel credits." Mighty responded absently, walking up beside him. "Bloody expensive, though. I can't afford too many credits on my card."

"Card, oy?"

"Yeah, yeah." Mighty nodded. He held up his key card for Ashura to see. "Y'know the key cards they give you at the front desk when you check in? You can go up and pay extra money for them to load it with credits. You can use them wherever you want in the hotel. The pool, the arcade, the cafeteria, whatever."

"...Ah." Ashura grinned. "So, you just swipe a card and it lets you play?"

"If you have credits, yeah. That's the idea." The armadillo shrugged.

The hedgehog was slowly grinning. He passed a slip of paper to the small blue fox. "Here, kids. Knock yourselves out."

Ray looked up at the hedgehog, eyes wide as saucers, and 8-BiT was grinning.

"Really?" The squirrel asked, out of breath. Mighty couldn't afford that many credits on his own card, and like he said, the games were expensive. He wasn't allowed in the arcade often, and could only play a few games when he came.

The armadillo shrugged, grinning. "Your call, dude." He told Ashura, looking a tad amused.

The hedgehog nodded solemnly. "Oh yeah. Sure. I don't think I'll be running out of credits any time soon." He said slyly, catching 8-BiT's wide grin out of the corner of his eye.

With a shrug and a nod from their guardians, the two kids were off, running into the sea of loud music and flashing lights.

Mighty shook his head doubtfully. "Letting two kids run wild in an arcade, spending at their own discretion? Dude, you must be totally loaded."

"Not really."

"Well. I'm gonna go crash." He said, finally. "Ray! Make sure you're back by midnight!" He shouted back, not waiting or caring for the squirrel to give any sort of affirmation that he'd heard, or planned to listen.

"Oh. I might as well too then." Ashura frowned, looking slightly disappointed. Then he grinned again. "Sook! Come back whenever you get bored or something!" He called over his shoulder, before stepping outside with Mighty.

They walked through the lobby together, until they came to the elevators. Mighty went up, and Ashura waved him off before turning back down the hallway he'd come from earlier that afternoon, and finding his way back to the Closet.

There, he looked around until he found a decent sized fire extinguisher, just for the hell of it, and then found a decent sized couch, and fell asleep on it with the fire extinguisher under his arm.


	3. Chapter 2

**Mossmask: Okay everyone. Don't have much time for an author's note this time because it's my bedtime, but thought I'd get it up before I crashed (as I probably won't have ANY time to get online all weekend - ugh, homework).**

**(Though I AM gonna try and get up and edit as soon as I can tomorrow morning. I have a feeling this is just riddled with stupid errors. Sorry. No spellcheck, I read it over twice, so that should have gotten rid of any REALLY big, stupid blunders... I hope).  
>Point anything out if you notice it.<br>**

**~Cya on the other side**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

It was about nine the next morning when Sonic walked into the front doors of the Rockstar Inn. He looked all around him as he entered, trying to take in all the details of the huge lobby. The hotel was five star, and about a block away from the stadium, so it made sense that a lot of the teams from the competition would be staying here.

As he was making his way over to the elevator, fox in hand, someone called his name from the dining room attached to the main lobby. He turned to look and saw Sonia sitting at a table there and waving him over. Apparently this hotel had free breakfasts. Most around here seemed to. Sonic and Tails had already eaten before they left, so he made his way over to her and sat down at an empty seat beside hers.

"Hey."

"Hey." He looked around. "So where's everyone else? Uh... Cream and that other girl?" He asked, not seeing them anywhere. Tails walked off and grabbed a plate from the end of one of the long tables, filling it with chocolate muffins until he had trouble keeping them all on the plate.

When he came back to the table, Sonic gave it a quick grimace but didn't say anything against it. And Tails took "bro, you're going to make yourself totally sick if you eat all that" as permission enough to dig in.

"Cream's just gone back up to our room to get Amy up. She was out late last night so we decided to let her sleep in." Even as she spoke, rabbit and hedgehog girl - still in her pajamas - stepped out of the elevator and made their way back to the table. Cream sat in the last empty chair and Amy pulled one over from the table beside them.

Cream cast a worried glance at Tails' plate, which was by now over half empty, but still as equally covered in chocolate as his face. He saw her looking and grinning, held out a muffin to her, which she politely declined.

"So." Amy said, eyeing the hedgehog seated across from her. "You're Sonic, then?"

He nodded. "Last time I checked, at least. And you are?"

"Amy. Amy Rose."

"Nice name. So then, is this your guys first time here?"

Amy nodded, Sonia shook her head. "Well, it's my first time entering," the magenta hedgehog specified. "But I've been here before. My brother's been in for the past three years. I always came to, well, support him I guess. Really, I'm just glad to get the holiday off." She laughed. "I think he'd be happier without us here, but whatever. This is my first year to be in the Tournament myself though. And his first not to."

"He's not entered this year?"

"Nope. He broke his arm." Amy filled him in. "So he wasn't allowed to enter. But he still came with his girlfriend anyway."

Amy's comment made Sonia suddenly laugh so hard she started coughing. "Sorry," she said to the confused looking Sonic after a moment. "But he came with a friend. Sort of. Well. In any case, they're totally not dating."

"They are." Amy muttered mutinously.

Sonia shook her head. "Amy's convinced that practically everyone's a couple. But believe me, they're not." She was still snickering slightly. "And I don't think either of them would be too pleased to hear that."

"...Right." Sonic said, a little awkwardly. Tails interjected before he could say anything else though.

"Hey, when do we getta see your 'Streme Gear?" He asked through a mouthful of chocolate.

Cream cringed.

"Tails," Sonic moaned. "Don't be so rude."

"Sowwy." He spoke with his mouth still full of chocolate, and Sonic facepalmed before turning away.

"Oh, soon, bud." Sonia said, smiling, apparently not put off. "I've got to head up to our room to go get it now anyway. We're leaving soon."

"I'll go get them." Amy said, standing up abruptly. "I still need to go get dressed anyway." She said, gesturing towards her pajamas. "Someone grab me a coffee when I get back." She added over her shoulder as she walked off.

She had to side step abruptly at the doors to the dining room as a bright blue fox dragged a hedgehog in, leading him by the hand, and stood the unresponsive lump of quills directly in front of the coffee machine.

It was a few minutes later when Amy returned, fully dressed in pink top and red shorts, holding three Extreme Gear boards. She set them down on the table which Sonic, Sonia, and Cream had helped to clear. Tails was already sitting up in his chair and poking around at them before Amy had sat back down.

"Well, we're going to have to be at the arena early to sign in, and finish tuning our Gear. Plus, if there's time, we might get to do a few practice laps on the first track." She said to the others at the table.

"Yeah yeah." Sonia waved her off. "We've got time. We'll leave in a few minutes."

"Mind if we come?" Sonic asked.

"Well, you can if you want, but it might be a bit boring without anything to do. There's a good hour or so left before the first race even begins." Amy shrugged.

"That's fine, we'll just watch you practice." Tails said, suddenly sitting up. It was only when they looked at him that they realized he had a screwdriver in his hand, from who-knew-where, and had a panel off Sonia's gear, with one paw stuck right inside.

"...What?" He asked, folding his ears back at the awkward stares he suddenly found himself getting.

"Tails..." Sonic said slowly. "Put it back."

"What?" He suddenly looked down at his hands, and then looked back up at the group, grinning slightly, ears flat. "Oh. Umm." He pulled his hands back as if he'd just been burned, and then quickly started putting it back together, while at the same time nearly flattening himself against the table, trying not to be noticed. "Sorry." He muttered.

"I'm sure he didn't break anything!" Sonic tried to explain quickly. "He just, um, likes to see how things work. I'm sorry, I should have been watching him closer. I didn't think he still had-"

Sonia waved him off. "Oh, don't worry about it. We were gonna check them all out once we got there anyway. If he did break anything we'll be able to fix it then. But I'm sure it's fine."

Sonic and Amy both looked dubious as to how she could just wave something like that off so easily. An eight year old had just been digging around inside of important electronics that didn't even belong to him, and she was just... okay with it.

Sonic still looked like he wanted to add something else, and Amy looked like she wanted to tell hedgehog, or fox, or both off just a little bit, but they were interrupted again before they could get any further.

"'Sup dudes?" A dark green hedgehog asked, walking up and tipping Sonia out of her chair, before sitting down and leaning forward on his elbows, grinning. He had a red-orange vest, a sling on his arm, and hair that looked more like a fern than anything else. Before anyone could answer, his chair suddenly fell backwards, and he rolled off the back with a startled yelp.

"And that, would be my brother." Sonia said, sitting back in her chair calmly.

"Manic!" The newcomer added, propping his elbows up on the table and grinning broadly at everyone from where he sat on the floor.

* * *

><p>"There ya go, should work fine." The green hedgie said, handing the Extreme Gears back to Amy, Sonia, and Cream respectively.<p>

Tails had been standing over his shoulder asking questions the whole time, and had even been allowed to help out a few times while Manic had been double checking that they were all working fine. The two of them had even been able to make a few last minute improvements which they hadn't, for the most part, bothered telling the others about.

They didn't have any sort of designated area or anything to get ready in. They had simply walked into the stadium, signed in - as Team Rose, apparently - and been allowed to set up on the stadium floor. Sonic, Tails, and Manic had been allowed in with them. Once they were ready to go, they could take a few practice laps around the arena for a while until it was time to get to their gate, or their seats. They weren't, however, allowed to leave the stadium once they'd signed in. No one team was allowed more of an advantage over the others, so they couldn't practice on any of the predesignated tracks.

A few other teams were already here as well, some getting their Gear set up, some doing laps. Once Team Rose was ready to go, they made their way to the far side of the arena to practice for a bit. Cream was the only person in sight with a helmet and elbow pads, but if she was embarrassed by it, it didn't show. Manic was nowhere to be seen, presumably he had also gone to find his seat.

Sonic and Tails stayed a bit longer before deciding to make their way up to the stands. They had a relatively easy time finding their seats because the stadium was still fairly empty. It was just starting to fill up now, and soon, most of the seats were filled. Tails was quite literally on the edge of his seat, leaning forward and trying to keep track of everyone at once. He could still see Amy, Sonia, and Cream on their Gear.

There was a pair of cats who looked similar enough to be siblings - maybe twins, were looking both frustrated and bored, while nearby a manx fiddled with their Gear, apparently trying to get it to work properly.

A red echidna with a stetson was shouting at an equally red armadillo, and they seemed about ready to break their Gear over each others heads. A yellow something-or-other - he couldn't tell what it was from this distance - was hiding behind his own Gear, peeking over the top nervously at his arguing teammates.

The last team he could see were racing around the track - and had been since he and Sonic and the others had first arrived. There was a green hawk, an albatross, and some girl, but Tails couldn't recognize her species. They'd only stopped a few times while they'd been here, each time to bicker for a few minutes before getting back on their Gear.

Sonic and Tails' seats were in the front row of their section, so Tails was able to stand, out of his seat, and hold onto the metal guard rail in front of him. That was what he was doing at the moment, gripping the rail tightly and leaning as far forward as he could, both namesakes waving excitedly behind him. Sonic, for his part, was leaning back in his seat with his legs crossed at the ankles, resting on the guard rail. He was looking around, bored, waiting for something to happen. He wished he'd thought to bring a watch or something, so he could tell when the event was supposed to start.

Tails flicked an irritated ear and glanced at his brother when he noticed him tapping his feet against the metal rail beside the fox, but then shrugged again and went back to observing the teams, a wide grin plastered on his face.

Suddenly he turned to face his hedgehog companion - who had noticed with no small amusement that the excitement was starting to make Tails look less like a fox and more like an oversized, two tailed pom pom. "Heya, Sonic? We should do this next year! Wouldn't that be great? Doncha think? We could totally-" but the blue hedgehog cut him off with a casual wave of his hand.

"Naw. Sorry, but no can do bro. Have you seen the entrance fee on this? We could never afford it. And that's if I hadn't already spent most of our money getting us here this year-" he cut himself off when the fox seemed to deflate at his words, and realized that he hadn't meant to mention how much coming here was costing him. The fox was used to traveling around with Sonic - the two of them were pretty much vagrants - and so he wouldn't realize that this trip would be so much different than the rest.

"Sorry Sonic." The fox frowned, ears folded down. "I didn't mean for you t' spend all your money on me... I just thought it'd be fun..."

"Hey," he tried to amend. "I didn't mean it like that. 'Sides, it was worth it, for the coolest birthday present for the coolest little bro."

Tails perked up slightly at this, but still seemed less excitable then before. The hedgehog sighed, then tried to change the subject. "Hey, we didn't get here_ that_ early, don't you think something should be happening by now?" He took a look around and his thoughts were confirmed when he saw confusion and impatience mirrored on the faces of those around them. He could also pick out worry and anger mixed around, but not as much.

Standing up abruptly, the blue hedgehog stretched his legs. "Hey, I'm gonna go take a walk and see what's taking so long. You wanna come?"

The orange fox jumped forward eagerly, grabbing the older hedgehog's hand in his own and scampering away towards the isle, tugging an amused hedgehog behind him.

"I'll take that as a yes then."

* * *

><p>Manic paced nervously. What was taking so long? He was pacing in front of the small row of benches near the bottom of the arena reserved for those who were here with the participating teams. He growled under his breath as he turned again, before abruptly stopping and looking up. He lifted his good arm to shield his eyes from the sun as he peered into what he assumed would be the technical booth. If anyone would know what was going on, it would be them...<p>

"I'm gonna go find out what's the hold up." He said aloud to his bat companion, sitting on the bench beside where he stood and looking bored. She turned and looked up at him indifferently. "Oh yeah? Alright... Lemme know if anything interesting's going on."

He gave her a nod before turning and starting to climb the rows of mental bleachers, taking them two at a time. The stadium had pretty much filled up by this point, so he had to shove his way through groups of people to get where he was going. When he finally got there, he tugged on the door, to find it was locked. He frowned and knocked on the heavy metal door impatiently.

A frazzled looking badger stuck his head out quickly, fixing the grassy headed hedgehog with an annoyed stare. "What is it kid? We're kind of busy." He snapped.

The kid in questioned back off, but only slightly. "Uh, dude. What's the holdup?" He looked down at his wrist as if there was an imaginary watch there. "Thing should have started ages ago."

"I know, I know. We're working on it." He went to close the door back on Manic's face, but the hedgehog had already slipped past him and inside. By the time the already flustered badger realized what had happened, Manic was standing beside the second technician, staring over his shoulder at the computer screens.

"So what's this then?" He asked the squirrel rapidly entering commands into his computer, pointing to a small section of the screen shaded in red.

"That's where the cave in was." The squirrel replied.

"Cave in? What cave in?" Manic raised an eyeridge, curious, as he wheeled over the second chair in the room and dropped down on it, leaning his feet up on the computer consoles.

The badger just seemed to get more flustered before storming up to the hedgehog. Manic held up both hands before he could utter a word. "Hey, dude, look. I'm not harming anything, am I? I'm just curious. No one even needs to know I was here. No harm done." He turned back to the squirrel, completely ignoring the badger now, and leaned forward. "So, you were saying. Cave in?"

"Yeah, it's really no big deal. A small section of road caved in over the older part of the city. The problem is, it's directly over top of the first course. We need to map out an alternative route before we can let the racer's out."

"Oh, that's all?" Manic frowned, mildly disappointed. He had been hoping for something a little more exciting. "How long 'til they can start, then?"

The squirrel shrugged. "We've come up with the new route, we just need to get it emptied. The original course was cordoned off for the race. Now we need to get the new route clear of pedestrians and we'll be good to go."

"Ah..." The hedgehog nodded, seeming bored. "Alright then, cool. 'Cya round, guys." He called, standing up and waving, before swinging the door back open and stepping back outside.

The badger muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath about punk kids, while the squirrel only seemed the mildest bit amused.

He found his seat again after the expected struggle with the crowd, and a bit of help from Rouge, who stood up and waved him back over. He sat beside her and gave her a quick rundown of what he'd found out. She seemed disinterested though, so he didn't go into details. She instead seemed to been paying more attention to a silver mink a few rows away. Manic, noticing, rolled his eyes and leaned back, careful not to fall over - the benches they were sat on had no backs - and leaned his feet up against the bench in front of them.

* * *

><p>It was a good twenty minutes later before the race was actually finally able to start. When the announcement was made, those twenty minutes later, it was greeted by a huge round of applause and cheering. Everyone, it seemed, was happy to have the day finally get started. Well, everyone that is, except for one extremely perturbed squirrel.<p>

"W-why did they have to pick me for the first race?" He wondered, gripping his blue extreme gear tightly as he made his way dizzily to the starting gate. He knew the participants from each team were chosen at random for each race, but he had really hoped that Mighty or Knuckles could have gone first. What if he messed up? He hoped his Team wouldn't be disqualified. He couldn't remember if that could even happen after the first race, but at the moment he was sure that they'd be willing to make an exception for him.

This was his first time racing against anyone besides Mighty or Knuckles. This was his first time ever being in such a big crowd, let alone being it's focus - or at least part of. He realized he was jittering, and almost lost his grip on his board. He tried breathing to calm himself down, like Mighty had taught him, but the more he though about it, the harder it became, until he found himself hyperventilating.

"Hey, calm down." A pink cat with short blond hair, who stood beside him, clutching her own light blue gear, advised. "You'll do fine, I'm sure. I'm nervous too, ya know. It's my first time racing without my sister."

For some reason, she actually did a pretty good job of calming the squirrel, with just a few words. He supposed he wasn't expecting any of the other competitors to actually be nice, or want to encourage him. He looked to his other side, and realized that a pink hedgehog girl in cherry red short shorts had been listening to their conversation, and gave him a grin and a thumbs up.

Suddenly feeling a lot more sure of himself, he did his best to grin back at the both of them - though the best he could come up with was an awkward grimace, and pulled his sky blue goggles down over his face. He stepped onto his Gear, along with the others, and waited for the starting bell to go.

A few seconds later it did, and nearly gave him a heart attack at the same time.

* * *

><p><strong>Mossmask: Alrighty guys. As always, if you read, review?<br>Constructive criticism is always welcome (and so is pure unadulterated praise, but. Pfft.)**

**Oh, and tell me what you think of the characterization so far. I'm doing my best, but that always get's sort of iffy when you're doing an AU.**

**And I know Rouge hasn't gotten much screen time yet - and other characters even less so. No worries, they'll all get their chance soon enough.**

**Next chapter should be up sometime next week. No guarantees, but that's what I'm aiming for.**

**~Dash Out.**


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